Place

South America

Featured Items

Book bound in white silk and decorated with the coat of arms of the Portuguese family and silver and gold beads.

Diario ecclesiastico para os Bispados do Rio de Janeiro, S. Paulo, e Marianna

1808
picture of title page of Mudo lamento

Mudo lamento de la vastissima, y numerosa Gentilidad, que habita las dilatadas margenes del caudaloso Orinoco, su origen, y vertientes, à los piadosos oídos de la Magestad Catholica de las Españas, nuestro señor Don Phelipe Quinto (que Dios guarde).

TAPIA, Matías
1715
The spine and back cover of Lettre d'une Peruvienne shows deteriorated calf binding.

Lettres d'une Peruvienne

Françoise de Graffigny
1748
Detail of hand colored, manuscript map shows rivers (outlined in green) and labels written in red ink. Near the large, red letters reading "Mor" there is a plantation notable for being labeled "Jews." Other plantations are labeled with surnames.

A discription of the coleny of Surranam in Guiana drawne in the year 1667

1667
Detail of a printed book shows a decorative head piece on the title page written in Spanish.

Historia natural, civil y geográfica de las naciones situadaes en las riveras del Rio Orinoco

Joseph Gumilla
1791
Detail of an engraved map shows mountainous topography and text in Italian.

Descrittione di tutto il Peru

Paulo di Forlani
circa 1564-1572
Detail from a printed book shows text in Spanish including "Ensayo" at the top of the page.

Semanario del Nuevo Reyno de Granada

Francisco Jose de Caldas
1808

Related

picture of Colombian Ambassador to the US with Cristina Soriano looking at book

JCB Brings Independence-era Materials to Residence of Colombian Ambassador in Washington, DC

September 11, 2019
Image from: Vue du Détroit de Tinquina. sur le Lac de Titicaca. Plateau des Andes. (Bolivia.) [Alcide Dessalines d'Orbigny 1844]. Original at the John Carter Brown Library.
Fellow's Talk

The Puquina Language in the Seventeenth-Century Andes

Black people work at a sugar mill with clouds and a palm tree outside

The Americas on Fire

19th century botanical guide by auguste de saint-hilaire

Plantes Usuelles des Brasiliens (Paris, 1824)

November 1, 2017
illustration of three large ships on water, people on river bank drag nets over the water

Entangled Histories of Empire and Science

October 12, 2017

See Also

Slavery and the Slave Trade

Religious Cultures